I recently pulled the tank out of Red to check out fuel leakage problems, and sure enough, she was leaking at the stampings on top as typical (discussion at Pelican Parts). The "expansion tank," i.e., plastic tube of mystery was also cracked. Yes, I could have the tank repaired, and get new plastic bits from Germany, but by the time I was done, that would end up costing me two bills.

Coincidentally, a buddy of mine was parting a 951, with the later plastic tank. I jumped on the opportunity to do the swap, rid myself of a leaky, and liner-shedding steel tank, and give myself a hefty 22 gallons of capacity.

The steps are:

Get tank, pump, filter bracket, trans xmember, tank straps, strap brackets, and standoffs from the donor. Make mounting templates or take measurements for the strap brackets.

Use the template to mark the area the tank brackets will go on the spare tire well:

Then put Mr. A.G. back to work:

Same for the upper "hanger" mounts, which center perfectly into the round areas stamped into the cargo floor. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE STANDOFFS WERE REMOVED FROM THE SQUARE CUT OFF BITS IN THE PIC BEFORE INSTALLATION.

This guy brought his 120v welder over, and did the job pretty inexpensively:

Next: fuel lines._________________Toofah King Bad

Shaggy (1980 931) - Got Boost?

Red (1987 924S) - Pro44/Spec944

Weiße Scheiße (1987 924S) - In Progress

Last edited by Rasta Monsta on Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:57 am; edited 1 time in total

Fuel line routing was a bit of a pain, but not insurmountable. First, the feed line, shown here with rubber intermediate line attached:

PLEASE NOTE THAT I SWAPPED THE POSITIONS OF THE FEED AND RETURN LINES IN THE ABOVE BRACKET, AS THE FEED LINE NEEDS TO DROP DOWN AROUND THE FRONT OF THE TANK NEAR HERE. WHEN YOU DO THIS, YOU MUST ALSO INSULATE THE TWO LINES FROM ONE ANOTHER WITH RUBBER AT THE POINT THEY CROSS TO AVOID DAMAGE FROM RUBBING!

On the 951, the fuel filter is mounted on the crossmember, and the feed line to the front of the car (via metal hardlines) leaves it by way of a special fitting, which then transitions into a rubber hose. You can see the rubber section in the stock feed line in the photo, also requiring a special fitting.

These two different ends need to be on the same line, so I fit the crossmember to the car, and used a couple of zip ties to attach the rubber sections to each other, side by side, along the path they would need to take from hardline to filter mount. I then disconnected the lines, and took them (still zip tied together) to the hose shop to have a custom line made up, of the correct length and with the correct ends to "blend" the two systems. Easy peasy!

Next the return line:

The 951 fuel return goes into the TOP of the tank near the sender. In the pic above, the line basically needs to do a 90 degree turn right around that fastener, and along the path of the stamping you can see leaving the top of the pic. I thought about trying to bend the line, but my pals at the hose shop recommended the line be cut, and a compression fitting used instead. A 90 degree barb was then screwed onto the compression fitting, and a piece of hose pressed onto the barb, and attached to the tank on installation.

Next, spend five minutes installing the fuel tank. You can't imagine how much easier this is without that stupid crossmember in the way.

DONE. Red no longer stinks of gas, has a better tranny mount setup, and holds 20+ gallons of fuel._________________Toofah King Bad

Shaggy (1980 931) - Got Boost?

Red (1987 924S) - Pro44/Spec944

Weiße Scheiße (1987 924S) - In Progress

Last edited by Rasta Monsta on Tue May 11, 2010 5:14 am; edited 7 times in total